In a conversational analysis with Baron Davis, Draymond Green breaks down the defensive challenges posed by the Dallas Mavericks' backcourt of Luka Dončić and Kyrie Irving. Green explains that Luka’s 6'8" size, vision, and passing make him a multifaceted threat: defenders must balance contesting his shots with preventing his playmaking angles, and over‑reacting can leave him open for step‑back threes. Kyrie, by contrast, is described as an elite scorer at every level of the court, requiring defenders to provide aggressive, early help because he can score from any spot. Green argues that while both are offensively complete, Luka has a slight deficiency in catch‑and‑shoot situations compared to Kyrie's flawless shooting ability. The conversation then pivots to the NIL landscape, focusing on AJ Dubonca’s $7 million, five‑month deal to play at BYU. Green and Davis discuss what success looks like for such a contract, emphasizing professionalism, brand building, and long‑term earning potential over immediate championships. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and analytical, with a generally enthusiastic and supportive sentiment toward both the players’ on‑court skills and Dubonca’s off‑court business acumen.
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Oh man. Next up is the Dallas Mavericks. The last time y'all played, that was a hell of a game. They got one of the most incredible backcourts in the NBA. Talk about, you know, Dallas, the way they playing. But most importantly, when you going up against the dynamic of a Luka and Kyrie and what that means.
They're playing really well. Obviously they had Luka go through an injury earlier in the season. They actually started finding a rhythm with Luka out and then Luka came back and they continued to trend in the right direction. You know, when you have Luka and Kyrie on the court, there's just problems that come with that. You got two guys that can get a bucket anytime they want. That's gonna draw so much attention and open up other guys, you know, that it makes that team, you know, a very difficult team to guard. You see like OKC the other day was like, we're not letting Luka beat us. We're gonna make everybody else beat us. And they had some success with it. Ultimately, when you're facing guys like that, that's kind of decision you usually have to make. Are we gonna make Luka and Kyrie beat us? Or are we gonna do all we can to take those two guys out and make everybody else beat us? And that's kind of what it boils down to. Everybody have their theory. I don't think one theory is right or wrong. I think, you know, you put that theory in place and then who's the guys that's gonna go out there, compete and execute it? You know, when you're guarding a Luka, I don't think people ever realize how big Luka is. He's 6'8".
Mm-hmm.
And he can see over everybody. Extremely great passer. You can't just guard him to stop him from scoring. You also have to guard him to try to take away his passing angles as well. And it's just a tough thing to do, right? Like you don't want to overreact on his drive to the rim because once he— if you overreact and he step back, he's 6'8", you can't contest the shot. But yet if you stay even with him, he just gonna keep going and keep you on his hip and he can finish because he— has such great size. So Luka's always a tough guard when guarding him. And then I always just talk about Kyrie and guarding Kyrie. Like, I always speak about it more so from the help position. Like, when you're helping on Kyrie, you gotta help so early because he's so dangerous at every scoring position on the basketball court. Whether it's at every level.
Mm-hmm.
Kyrie is extremely dangerous at every scoring level on the basketball court. You kind of have to be over, more overaggressive on your help with Kyrie because he can score from anywhere. Whereas most guys you like, yo, we don't need to get the aggressive till he get here. But Kyrie is everywhere on the court because he is an elite scorer at every level on the basketball court.
No offensive deficiencies.
Zero.
Neither one of them. That's rare, yo.
As crazy as this sound, BD, Luka probably has more offensive deficiencies than Kyrie. And that's crazy to say because Luka is one of the most skilled, one of the best players we've ever seen. But like, Luka doesn't catch and shoot as well as Kyrie catches and shoots, right? Like, Luka shoot the piss out the ball. We all know that. But he doesn't catch and shoot as well as Kyrie catch and shoot. Kyrie literally does not have a deficiency on the offensive end. It's crazy.
Man, also, what do you think about the potential of AJ Dubonca. I like him. And then he going to BYU.
Crazy, man.
BYU got the number one player in this class.
Welcome to the NIL.
Welcome to the NIL.
Welcome to the NIL where BYU can get a kid like AJ Dubonca to come there for a year because he'll be there for a year There's reports that he's been paid somewhere around the $7 million mark.
7 Ms, y'all. This is wild.
More power to him.
6D college, bro. If I can give players $7 million, man, let me go do some recruiting.
Listen, $7 million to go to BYU is insane. What is viewed as success though? Like—
Right, that's what I'm saying.
What's the marker for success? Like, so you pay him $7 million essentially for 6 months.
To go to the tournament?
Which by the way, shout out to AJ. Brother, you just made the biggest bag you gonna make in your life per second and per hour. Because to get $7 million for about 5 months of work, it's absolutely insane. Now granted, this kid is gonna have like, with the potential that he has, he'll have incredible earning potential. Like Draymond Green potential. $7 million to go to a college campus for 5 months and not even have to win. Like they don't have to, I don't know what success is viewed as for them.
What are the measurements?
But I know it's not win a championship. And so to go somewhere and like get $7 million or whatever it is around that and not have to win a championship, that brother hit a lick, man. Shout out to the young fella. You know, he doing big things. I've heard a lot about him. I've heard, you know, just he plays winning basketball, which I love. And so shout out to the young fella, get your bag.
Yeah, I heard he is good. I heard he is humble. You know, he's presentable. You know, Coach Jason Crowe said when they played Inglewood, you know, he thanked them for the opportunity. You know what I mean? He knew, he knows the players, know who people are. So it's like, man, you want to get, you want to get the money to somebody that's gonna be responsible. And this kid is, definitely gonna be responsible for his talents and what he bring and that energy he bring every day. Absolutely.
I think when you look at the makeup of how he's going about his business and all the things that you just said, which I've been hearing as well about him, he looks to be on a LeBron James-like path where he got things in place around him where they have a system. They're not stepping outside of that system and he's building himself up. They're building him up to be the face of a lot of things. And just knowing how to carry himself, being the number one guy for the last 2 years and carrying that with so much grace, like LeBron James, I think is something that I admire. So shout out to the young fella, keep doing your thing.
Shout out to AJ.
It's super dope to see and refreshing to hear about that type of professionalism in a young guy who's coming in and saying, "No, I'm gonna take on all that." So oftentimes now you got these young guys wanting to challenge the system, you know what I'm saying? Wanting to challenge, "I can do this my way and do this this way." Or wanna be cool. You know what I was just about to say, like— Be cool.
Get that cool shit in.
Yeah, like, "I need to be this way." Like, nah, man, stuff sells and it looks a certain way, period. And doing it your cool-ass way ain't worked for nobody, it ain't gonna work for you. So it's good to see a young fella like this, but kind of with that old school mentality of doing things. And you know, the amount of success that he's gonna have in doing things that way, it'll benefit him in the end. So shout out to the young fella. Yeah.
